August 5 Friday – Sam’s notebook entry: “Began ‘Huck Finn in Africa’ August 5, 1892” [NB 32 TS 18]. This was to be called Tom Sawyer Abroad and would run serialized in St. Nicholas from Nov. 1893 to Apr. 1894, prior to Webster & Co. publishing it in book form. See Apr. 16, 1894.
Clemens Family Relocates to Europe: Day By Day
August 5 Saturday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany, Sam wrote a short note to Chatto & Windus, his English publisher, asking that a copy of P&P be sent to Kurhotel in Krankenheil-Tölz, and reminding them of a request for a six-month subscription to the London Daily News, which had not arrived as yet [MTP].
August 5 Sunday – A few minutes after returning from Long Island, Sam wrote to Livy about going after his JA MS on Friday afternoon and leaving with Harry Harper for a two-day visit. No letter from her awaited him. Sam explained that he needed to be accessible to H.H. Rogers, for Urban H.
August 6 Thursday – In Bayreuth, another performance of “Parsifal” was given. Sam elected not to go, but said the “others” of his party did. He wrote of the setup of the festival:
August 6 Sunday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. He apologized for asking for monthly reports when Hall was under such pressure — just send two items, the cash liabilities and assets, which would be enough to “perceive the condition of the business at a glance.” Sam expressed appreciation for the “tempest” Hall was going through, though Sam never saw newspapers there.
August 6 Monday – Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam agreeing to amend the contract for JA with the increased royalty from the time they used his real name as author [MTP].
August 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Bayreuth, Germany to Frederick J. Hall concerning details of McClure’s publication of The American Claimant, which would begin in January. Sam wanted confirmation that the second installment payment would be made at that time, and that the serial would finish in March, 1892.
August 7 Sunday – At the Kaiserhof Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Sam wrote to his brother-in-law, Charles J. Langdon, who had telegrammed him while in New York, a message which was forwarded by mail to Bad Nauheim.
August 7 Monday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam approving the Cosmopolitan deal.
…it is going to be …absolutely impossible for us to send you money with any regularity [MTLTP 352n4].
August 7 Tuesday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote a paragraph to his brother Orion in Keokuk, Iowa, asking his forgiveness for losing his temper.
…I was infernally provoked to reflect that I had written 200 letters trying to settle that picayune trade & then hadn’t accomplished it.
August 8 Tuesday – Chatto & Windus wrote to Sam advising they’d sent him a copy of P&P
Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam, heading the letter “Confidential.”
August 8 Wednesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote a letter to daughter Susy in Etretat, France. This morning he’d gone to see a palmreader, a young man, 26-years-old, named Cheiro (1866-1936), one of the most colorful and famous occult figures of his day. He was a clairvoyant who used palmistry, astrology, and Chaldean numerology, to predict world events, some of which were frighteningly accurate.
August 9 Tuesday – In Bad Nauheim Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.
…But if he should want it I think a good idea to trade with him, for his magazine is obscure & I don’t want to appear in print in the full glare of the big magazines too often…Of course Walker can take this Romance if he wants it…if he takes Puddnhead, he can’t take this too [MTP].
Note: John Brisben Walker was at this time Howell’s co-worker and editor on the Cosmopolitan.
August 9 Wednesday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.
Won’t you have the enclosed brief Romance [“Esquimau Maiden’s Romance”] very very carefully type-written (you carefully correcting it afterward yourself)?
August 9 Thursday – In New York at H.H. Rogers’ office, Sam wrote to Livy an hour before a scheduled meeting with the lawyers and the assignee in the Webster & Co. bankruptcy case.
Clemens Family Relocates to Europe
Sam Clemens and his family wandered about Europe from June of 1891 to May of 1895, seeking cures for their aches and pains; schooling for their children; and some relaxation. Sam was in rather dire financial straits but it was during this period that he became acquainted with Henry Huttleston Rogers, who along with his secretary, put Sam back on the road to financial stability. This effort required Sam take several trips across the Atlantic while his family remain in Europe.
A More Respectable Address – Dinner With the Kaiser – Resorts and more Resorts - Flying Trip to Chicago – A World of Night-&-Day Railroading - Letters for McClure’s Syndicate – Hobnobbing in Europe - American Claimant – Viva Villa Viviani!
Books published by Charles L. Webster & Co. in 1892
Bacheller, Irving, The Master of Silence: A Romance
Beard, Daniel C., Moonlight and Six Feet of Romance
Benton, Joel, The Truth About “Protection”
1894 – Sometime during the year Sam inscribed Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar for 1894 to Bram Stoker: Pudd’nhead Wilson’s compts to Bram Stoker. / per / Mark Twain / ~ [MTP].
“Macfarlane” was written sometime during 1894-5, but not published during Sam’s lifetime. It was included in What is Man? and Other Philosophical Writings, Baender, ed. (1973) [Budd, Collected 2: 1002].
Sam also wrote a short note to an unidentified person:
December 1 Tuesday – In Berlin Sam wrote to George H. Warner. Livy added a letter twice as long as Sam’s.
My arm broke down on me again, yesterday, but I must steal a minute or two with a pen to thank you for the most prized letter [Nov. 17] I have received in years. I shall dictate a letter to my New York firm now & urge the bringing out of that book in cheap paper-cover form. I have long wanted to make the experiment with that book.
December 1 Thursday – Sam worked on several chapters in his new novel, PW, writing 6,000 words in 13 hours of work. Sam considered 2,000 words “an honest day’s work” [Dec. 2 to Whitmore].
December 1 Friday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote a short note to Charles Willey in Bay Shore, Long Island:
My Dear Sir: / I have great confidence in Huck Finn’s judgment in these matters; therefore I am quite willing that you should use the design [MTP].
Sam visited William Dean Howells in his N.Y. apartment but “had to leave there …because so many people came there was no satisfaction in the visit” [Dec. 2 to Livy].
December 10 Thursday † – Sam and Livy attended a dinner at Rudolf Lindau’s, for which Sam wrote thanks on Dec. 11.
December 10 Saturday – Sam finished drafting Pudd’nhead Wilson [Dec. 12 to Hall]. Note: revisions were to come.
Anthony E. Abel for Burham Industrial Farm, N.Y. sent a form letter soliciting funds [MTP].
William M.F. Round wrote on the bottom of the above form letter (Abel, Dec. 10): I have given my young private secretary, Mr. Abel, my cordial assent to have his scheme for raising money for the Gymnasium building [MTP].
December 10 Sunday – Sam returned to New York and wrote from the Players Club to the Secretary of the Millicent Library in Fairhaven, Mass. This was Henry H. Rogers’ boyhood town to which he later gave many gifts, including the Fairhaven High School, the Town Hall, a Masonic Hall, Cushman Park, and Millicent Library, named for his deceased daughter who had a love of books. At age 20 Rogers left the town to seek his fortune in the oil fields of Pennsylvania.
December 10 Monday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to Henry M. Alden of Harper & Brothers asking to see his proofs of JA, after discovering he’d made “two or three mistakes.”
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